Since
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's warning in 2010 of the ever-expanding
influence and numbers of house churches, the treatment of Christians has
rapidly worsened. The regime tries to destroy those who reach out to
converts and seekers by monitoring services, arresting converts, banning
Farsi language services and closing some churches. Attacks against
Christian communities have increased, and the prohibition of house
church activities is enforced more strictly. Yet the regime's harsh
treatment of Christians only further fuels the flames of church growth.

PRAY:
Preaching, evangelism and publishing Christian books in the Farsi
language is illegal. Pray for protection for those seeking to spread
God's Word inside the country.

It
is said that children of political and spiritual leaders are leaving
Islam for Christianity. Pray that more Muslims will discover the truth
of the gospel.

At least 40 Christians are in prison for their faith. Ask the Lord to sustain them.

Saudi
Arabia. Christian Persecution in Saudi ArabiaThe open practice of any
religion other than Islam is forbidden here, and conversion to another
faith is punishable by death. Most Christians are ex-pats from Asia or
Africa. During 2013, several Christian migrant fellowships were raided
by police, and tens of worshippers detained and deported.
Muslim-background believers run the risk of honor killing if their faith
is discovered. Yet a small but growing number of Muslims are coming to
Christ and sharing their faith on the internet and satellite TV.

PRAY:
Widespread unemployment and increasing discontent amongst young people
makes this a breeding ground for extremists. Ask God to halt the spread
of extremist views.

That more Muslims will meet Jesus through satellite TV or dreams and visions of Jesus.

In
2013, two men were convicted of proselytizing, and were sentenced to a
few hundred lashes and several years in prison. Pray for their release.

About Persecution

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:22

Persecution
is defined as a policy or campaign to exterminate, drive away, or
subjugate a people because of their religion, race or beliefs. According
to The Pew Research Center, almost 75% of the world's population lives
in areas with severe religious restrictions. Many of these people are
Christians.

So, who are the 75%? Where are Christians facing persecution?

Persecution
occurs whenever believers are denied the protection of religious
freedom, prevented from converting to Christianity because of legal or
social threats, physically attacked or killed because of their faith,
forced to leave their job or home because of the threat of violence, or
imprisoned and interrogated, and often tortured for refusing to deny
their faith.

Christians
face persecution in more than 60 countries around the world. Each year,
Open Doors ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted
in the annual World Watch List. You can learn more about Christians who
are persecuted (and how you can help them) here at:
http://www.worldwatchlist.us

It
can be disheartening to learn that so many Christians are being
persecuted for their faith. But it is key to remember that Christ was
persecuted and suffered- to the point of death on the cross. He tells us
that if we follow Him, we will be persecuted (John 15:18-21).

"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."

Though
we may not face persecution, we are called to be united with the part
of the Body of Christ that does face persecution daily. The most
important way to unite with our brothers and sisters who do face
persecution is through prayer.

Romans
15:30 says, "I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ
and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to
God for me."

One
Nigerian widow said, "I didn't know that anyone outside of Nigeria knew
what was happening to us Christians. Now that I know that others are
praying, I am greatly encouraged."

You can learn more about praying for persecuted Christians, and sign-up for free resources at:

http://www.opendoorsusa.org/pray/prayer-updates/.

*Definition from Random House Dictionary

Egypt
Pressure is increasing both on Egypt's indigenous Coptic community and
on those who come to faith from a Muslim background. Muslims who convert
to Christianity have long faced persecution from family members, who
punish them for abandoning the Islamic faith. But in recent years,
Egypt's historical Christian communities have increasingly been
targeted, as well. In August 2013, following the ousting of President
Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for the burning of 38
churches and the damaging of 23 churches, in an upsurge in sectarian
violence against Coptic Christians.

PRAY
Muslim-background believers face severe limitations within their homes
and extended families. Pray for strength to persevere despite the
challenges.

Islam
is gradually taking over the country's culture. Pray that Christians
will have courage to continue to be a light to their nation.

For Egypt's political leaders. Pray that political and economic stability will be restored.

Christian
Persecution in AfghanistanThe situation in the country remains
unstable, and Islamic extremist groups continue to gain power.
Christianity is still considered a 'Western' religion, and is seen as
hostile to Afghan culture, society and Islam. Those who leave Islam are
treated as apostates, and face huge pressures from family, society and
local authorities. In September 2013, an Afghan MP called for the
execution of converts to Christianity. There is no public church, even
for ex-pats. Christian converts keep their faith secret, since any
connection with Christianity is dangerous.

PRAY:

All
Afghan Christians come from a Muslim background, and are at risk if
their faith is discovered. Ask God to protect and encourage them.

The Taliban continues to threaten and attack Afghan citizens. Pray that their influence will diminish.

That the withdrawal of international forces in 2014 will not lead to a return to civil war.

Pakistan's
Christians are caught in the crossfire between Islamic militant
organizations that routinely target Christians, and an Islamizing
culture that leaves Christians isolated from the rest of the population.
The notorious blasphemy laws continue to have devastating consequences
for minorities, including Christians. Women and girls from minority
groups are particularly vulnerable, and sexual assaults against underage
Christian girls by Muslim men continue to be reported. In September
2013, a twin bomb attack on Anglican All Saints Church in Peshawar left
89 people dead.

PRAY:

Many
Christians who can afford to are leaving the country. Ask God to give
His people courage to remain as a witness to their nation.

For
the newly elected Prime Minister. Ask God to move him to take action to
defend the rights of Christians and other minority groups.

For protection for young Christian girls who are particularly at risk of abduction or assault.

Nigeria 2014 - Nigeria

Christian
Persecution in NigeriaLevels of violence against Christians in 2013
remained extremely high, with hundreds of cases of physical aggression,
the destruction of nearly 300 churches and the death of 612 Nigerian
Christians. Pentecostal leader, Rev. Faye Pama Musa, was shot dead by
two suspected Boko Haram members. However, violence from this Islamic
terrorist group is not the only form of persecution. Local government
and social groups leave hardly any space for Christians to live their
own lives; many Christian villages are denied basic facilities, such as
wells and schools.

PRAY: For God's Spirit to be at work, comforting families who have suffered trauma or loss.

Thank God for the generous gifts of Open Doors supporters to widows and orphans.

For the protection of the Open Doors team as they take Bibles, relief and training to believers in need.

Catching Our Eye

Malatya murder suspects out of jail

As
expected, the five men suspected of killing three Christians in
Malatya, Turkey, nearly seven years ago have been released from jail as
their trial continues.

The
Malatya First High Criminal Court released the suspects March 8 in
response to a new law, which took effect last week, that reduces the
amount of time suspects awaiting trial can be held from 10 years to
five. The Malatya murder suspects had been detained since the day of the
killings in April 2007.

Radio
Shema, a Christian broadcast ministry in Ankara, issued a statement
March 11 saying the suspects are under house arrest and have been fitted
with tracking beacons.

A verdict in the long-running trial is expected April 10.

Source: Today's Zaman

Kidnappers release Syrian nuns

A group of nuns kidnapped in Maaloula, Syria, in December were released early Monday, tired but unharmed.

"God
did not leave us," Mother Pelagia Sayyaf, superior of the Mar Takla
monastery in Maaloula, told news reporters after the nuns had been
released to Syrian authorities as part of a prisoner exchange involving
150 women and children who had been held by the Syrian government.

Sayyaf
said she and the other nuns and their attendants were well treated
during their captivity in Lebanon. "The [al-Nusra] Front was good to
us... but we took off our crosses because we were in the wrong place to
wear them,'' she was quoted by the BBC as saying.

The al-Nursa Front, a jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaida, is believed to have abducted the women.

Source: BBC

'Allah' verdict postponed

Malaysia's
Federal Court has reserved judgment on a Catholic newspaper's
application to appeal against a ban on the use of the word 'Allah' in
its publication.

In
a case which started in 2008, The Herald appealed to the Federal Court
after the Court of Appeal's Oct. 2013 decision to ban the newspaper from
using the word to refer to the Christian God.

No date has been set for when the Federal Court will again consider its judgment.

The
case has potential wider repercussions for all Christian publishing,
although it is still not clear what implications any judgement might
have for Christian worship and other practices in Malaysia.

Nigeria's churches will not stay silent during violence, leader says

Published: March 12, 2014

Boko Haram attacks continue in north, killing dozens

. on redditMore Sharing Services4

Nigeria's largest church network is calling on the country's president for more protection from Boko Haram attacks.

The president, meanwhile, is calling for more prayer.

"We
will not keep silence amidst persecution Christians are facing," Rev.
Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, told
World Watch Monitor on March 7.

"The
killings in Northern Nigeria are condemnable and act of wickedness to
humanity," Oritsejafor said. "It is unfortunate that worshippers are
being killed in their homes and places of worship. We are not happy with
this trend and will continue to pray to God to bring an end to this
excruciating situation we are going through in Northern Nigeria."

Deadly
attacks have been carried out on an almost daily basis in central and
northern-eastern States of Nigeria. On the night of March 8, three
churches were burnt down to ashes in an attack attributed to Boko Haram
in Fota town, in the Gombi Local Government area of Adamawa state.

The
attackers, suspected to be from the militant Islamic Boko Haram
insurgency, also burnt down a police station and killed seven police men
before moving to the churches, said Rev. Lawrence Dim, a Catholic
priest in the area.

"Many
of the people have fled the area, but [the attackers] burnt down three
churches: there is EYN and LCCN Churches and one other church. They also
injured some people and killed some," Dim told World Watch Monitor,
though he did not estimate the number of victims.

On
Feb. 26, at least 14 people were killed in coordinated attacks by
heavily armed Boko Haram fighters on Kirchinga, Michika and Shuwa
villages in Adamawa State. Many properties including three Catholic
churches were set on fire. More than 400 were killed in Borno, Adamawa
and Yobe states in February.

In
Central Nigeria, widely called the Middle belt, the predominantly
Christian Berom community has sustained heavy lost following increasing
attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Eighteen
people, most of them women and children, were killed on March 4 and 5
in four villages — Dorok, Gwon, Gwarama, and Gwarim; all in the Riyom
Local Government area of Plateau State. Among the victims were eight
people of the same family. The assailants, wearing military-style
uniforms and armed with sophisticated weapons, burnt more than 200
houses, churches and other places of prayer.

According
to one survivor, who identified himself as Peter Daniel, the attackers
vowed to annihilate residents who returned back to their villages.

Across
Plateau state, at least 163 people have been killed in attacks by
suspected Fulanis since the beginning of the year. Each wave of violence
brings renewed criticism, from the Christian Association of Nigeria and
other quarters, that Nigerian security forces are not doing enough to
stop the killings.

Of
Nigeria's estimated 160 million people, about 70 million are
Christians. The CAN is their most representative umbrella group,
comprising notably five major denominational groups: the Catholic Church
in Nigeria, the Christian Council of Nigeria, the Christian Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria, the Organization of African Instituted Churches,
and the Evangelical Church Winning All.

Rev.
Oritsejafor, the CAN president, appealed to government and security
agencies to be proactive towards protecting lives and properties, and to
prosecute the perpetrators.

On
Feb. 5, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan sacked his army chiefs,
replacing them with new generals with orders to crush Boko Haram. More
recently, a presidential spokesman acknowledged the conflict with Boko
Haram is a "war situation" and that the army is dealing with a "serious
enemy."

On March 9, President Goodluck Jonathan called for more prayer to defeat the insurgency.

"We
need more prayers to end terrorism. With prayers and the measures put
in place, we will surmount the challenges", the president said in a
speech at the opening session of the Catholic Bishops Conference of
Nigeria, in Abuja, the federal capital.

The
government's inability to put down the Islamist surge has raised
widespread criticism from religious and political leaders. Violence is
expected only to increase as federal elections scheduled for February
2015 approach.

The
2011 election Jonathan, a Christian from Nigeria's south, prompted
unprecedented violence across the largely Muslim north in which at least
170 Christians were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands
displaced, and more than 350 churches were burned or destroyed by mobs.

Is conflict in Nigeria really about persecution of Christians by radical Muslims? Published: June 24, 2013

St
Rita's Catholic Church in Kaduna, north-central Nigeria, after a
suicide bomb attack in October 2012.St Rita's Catholic Church in Kaduna,
north-central Nigeria, after a suicide bomb attack in October 2012.

World Watch Monitor

Nigeria's
President Goodluck Jonathan was reported last week to have said that
statistics show that more Muslims than Christians have been killed by
Boko Haram.

Speaking
at his Presidential villa in the capital at the opening meeting of the
Honorary International Investors' Council, led by UK Baroness Lynda
Chalker (a former Secretary of State for International Development), he
is reported to have said: "Initially, people thought the insurgency is
about religious issues, but the pattern of attacks shows clearly that it
has nothing to do with religion. Just as there are threats to churches,
so also there are threats to mosques.

"They
attack everywhere, killing Muslims and Christians. Even more Muslims
have died in the conflict than Christians have. So the groups, whether
political or whatever interest have external influence, considering the
issues of Al Qaeda.

"Basically,
it goes beyond religious issues. They are terrorists that have decided
to destabilise the country for some reasons, sometimes it could be
Western influence, governance issues and so on. They are terror groups
that are not representing any religion."

The
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has refuted his assertion. Its
spokesman Sunday Oibe responded: "Our attention has been drawn to a
purported claim by President Goodluck Jonathan that the Boko Haram
insurgents in the north have killed more Muslims than Christians and
that it is not a religious issue.

"The
purported statement by Mr. President is highly disappointing
considering the fact that Christians and their churches and businesses
have been the major targets of the Boko Haram terror group.

"We
want to believe that the President was misquoted… If it is true that
Mr. President actually made this assertion, then we are highly
disappointed and sad at this veiled attempt to distort the facts as it
concerns the activities of the Boko Haram sect.

Nigeria
President Goodluck Jonathan during 2011 Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in Australia.Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan
during 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia.

"We
say this because there has never been any bomb that has been exploded
in any mosque or targeted at any mosque in the entire activities of the
Boko Haram sect in the north. The Boko Haram members even said that when
a Muslim is killed, it is by mistake".

A
new paper, produced for the World Watch List by a Nigerian researcher
who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons, argues that the
situation in Nigeria is a classic example of what could be referred to
as persecution eclipse.

This
is a situation, writes the author, whereby persecution and civil
conflict overlap to the extent that the former is in a real or
imaginative sense overshadowed or rendered almost invisible by the
latter.

The
paper argues that persecution eclipse minimises, overlooks or denies
the suffering of a victim of persecution; encourages a causal analysis
that provides vicarious justifications for the perpetrators' actions;
shifts the focus of interrogation from religious freedom violations to
conflict analysis; and embraces an instrumental view of conflict in
which religion assumes an insignificant place in the analysis.

The
concept of persecution eclipse is proposed to show how religious
freedom itself can become a casualty in a situation where genuine
persecution becomes lost in a murky debate.

The
author distinguishes two broad categories of persecution that
Christians in northern Nigeria experience: insidious persecution
(typified by the daily experiences of harassment, exclusion and
discrimination of many Christian minorities in the region) and elevated
persecution, a more lethal form of persecution, based on outright
violence.

"The
majority of conflicts reported in international media as 'clashes'
between Muslims and Christians in actual fact have been one-sided
violence against Christians."

--World Watch List

The
author claims that insidious persecution has been occurring for years,
and that while elevated persecution used to be sporadic, it has become
entrenched very visibly in recent years.

Civil
unrest obscures religious persecution and can itself be a vehicle for
persecution, the author claims, through its negative impact on the
stability of society and the way it encourages Islamist groups to
violently pursue their religious agenda.

"Inter-religious
conflicts [relating to] the struggle over power and resources are
endemic in Nigeria," writes the author. "These conflicts have been used
as vehicles to pursue the objectives of persecution and to widen its
scope. In order to misinform the outside world, perpetrators have
learned to invent narratives that conceal the nexus between persecution
and conflict, and engage in propaganda using mainstream and social
media."

Another
dimension of this misinformation, he argues, is that "the majority of
the incidents of conflicts that have been reported in the international
media as 'clashes' between Muslims and Christians in actual fact have
been one-sided violence against Christians."

This
report makes many interesting observations, but it doesn't investigate
them in depth. However, the author has laid the groundwork for a more
detailed investigation, on which others can build.

N. Korea to execute 33 for missionary work

Published: March 10, 2014

Government claims they were building a network of underground churches

A
2009 photo of a North Korean women's prison camp, near the border with
Dandong, China.A 2009 photo of a North Korean women's prison camp, near
the border with Dandong, China.

Courtesy Open Doors International

North
Korea has ordered the death of as many as 33 people because of their
alleged contact with a missionary, South Korea's largest news
organization has reported.

The
33 North Koreans are charged with attempting to overthrow the regime by
setting up 500 underground churches, according to the South Korean
newspaper Chosun Ilbo, which cited an unnamed source. The newspaper said
they are accused of working with Kim Jung-wook, a South Korean arrested
by North Korean authorities in October on suspicion of trying to
establish underground churches.

The executions will be carried out in a secret location administered by the State Security Department, Chosun Ilbo reported.

Kim,
a Baptist missionary, appeared on North Korean television on Feb. 27
and said he was working at the direction of the South Korean National
Intelligence Service, and that his goal was the collapse of the
Pyongyang regime. It's unknown whether Kim's TV appearance will earn his
release.

During
the same television broadcast, North Korean authorities showed recorded
interviews with five North Koreans who said Kim had provided money to
them, Chosun Ilbo reported. The news agency did not say whether the five
shown on the broadcast were among the 33 who had been arrested. It did
report, however, that they said Kim vowed, after toppling the regime, to
build a church on the Pyongyang spot where today a statue of North
Korean founder Kim Il-sung stands.

It's not known how many of the 33 arrested people are Christian.

Kim
was arrested in the North last October for allegedly establishing
underground churches. Chosun Ilbo cited an unnamed source from China as
saying North Korean agents kidnapped Kim in the border city of Dandong,
China, and took him into North Korea.

North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered "unclean elements" from the
country. Last year, his uncle and mentor Jang Song-Thaek was executed.
Jang's children, brothers and grandchildren were killed shortly
thereafter.

The
sentencing of the 33 North Koreans came a day after Australian
missionary John Short arrived in China after being detained for several
weeks in North Korea for leaving Christian pamphlets in a Buddhist
temple. North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, said Short had apologised
and admitted violating North Korean laws. According to KCNA, North
Korea expelled Short, 75, partly in consideration of his age.

American
missionary Kenneth Bae remains imprisoned in North Korea following his
November 2012 arrest while leading a tour group. Prosecutors alleged Bae
was planning a coup by setting up bases in China, encouraging North
Korean citizens to bring down the government, and waging a smear
campaign. Despite apparent ill health and diplomatic pressure to release
him, Bae continues to serve a 15-year sentence.

"The
ashes whirled over the road we walked every day. Each time my feet
crunched, I thought: 'One day the other prisoners will walk over me.' "

--North Korean refugee and former labor-camp prisoner

Christians
estimated to number in the tens of thousands are held in North Korea's
prisons and labor camps. Last week, one survivor of a three-year
interment described to World Watch Monitor the conditions of the camp
where she was imprisoned. Her name is being withheld because of her
fears that the North Korean government might retaliate against family
still living in the North.

The
woman said she and several others were arrested a decade ago for
fleeing North Korea, and were returned to North Korea and sent to
prison.

"These
escapees betrayed me and told the police I had taught the Bible to
them," the woman told World Watch Monitor. "I had been beaten during the
first interrogations, but now the torture became worse. The guards put a
rod between my knees and pushed me down. I told God I could not take
the torture anymore and prayed He would guard my lips so I would not
deny Him."

After almost a year in different prisons, the woman was sent to a labor camp for nearly three years.

"The
walls of our barracks were bloodstained, because we killed as many
fleas and lice as we could," she said. "We received only a few spoons of
rotten corn meal each. The soup we ate was usually just dirty water. If
we were thirsty and wanted extra water, we needed to steal it from the
nearby stream, which was polluted by the garbage of the guards."

The death rate was so high that bodies stacked up outside the crematorium, she said.

"Sometimes,
they rotted for days in sheds before they were disposed or burnt. The
ashes whirled over the road we walked every day. Each time my feet
crunched, I thought: 'One day the other prisoners will walk over me.' "

If there were other Christians in the camp, they didn't reveal themselves.

"Nobody
spoke about their faith in the camp," the woman said. "Besides, I was
lucky enough to be sent to a re-education camp, and I was eventually
released. Most Christians are put in so-called total-control zones.
Political labor camps.

"Nobody
is ever released from there." Anti-religion hostility rose worldwide in
2012, study says Published: January 15, 2014. Growth most rapid in
North Africa, Middle East on reddit More Sharing Services9

The
world became generally more hostile to religious believers of all
faiths, Christianity included, in 2012, according to a major annual
report issued Jan. 14.

Christians
were harassed in more countries than followers of other faiths, though
pressure on Muslims and Jews was widespread globally, according to the
study, conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center.

The
report, now in its sixth year, measures constraints on religious
freedom in two major categories: social hostilities and government
restrictions. It surveys conditions in 198 countries, encompassing 99
per cent of the world's population.

Social Hostilities

A
third of the world's countries had high measures of social hostilities
in 2012, the highest level recorded in the study's six-year history. Pew
defines social hostilities as ranging from terrorism and mob violence
to harassment over religious attire.

Nearly
half of all countries reported abuse of religious minorities by
individuals or groups who took offense at, or felt threatened by, the
minority. In the first year of the study, less than a quarter of all
countries reported such abuse.

Violence,
or the threat of it, against religious minorities to enforce religious
norms was reported in 39 per cent of countries, compared to 33 per cent a
year earlier and 18 per cent in the first year of the study.

The
report said 2012 growth of social hostilities was especially rapid in
Northern Africa and the Middle East, and was highest in Pakistan.

Government restrictions

High
rates of official limits on religion were found in 29 per cent of the
countries, about the same as the previous year. Pew examines 20
indicators of government control, including bans on specific faiths,
restrictions on conversions, and preferential treatment to certain
religions, among others.

Increases
were detected among several of those 20 measures. Government limits on
worship were citied in 74 per cent of countries, up from 69 per cent in
2011. Restrictions on public preaching were found in 38 per cent of
countries, up from 31 per cent. And government force, such as arrest and
prosecution, was documented in 48 per cent of the world's countries, up
from 41 per cent.

Egypt ranked highest on the report's list of government restrictions.

Taking
both categories — government restrictions and social hostility — into
account, high levels of overall religious restrictions were reported in
43 per cent of the world's countries, the highest ever recorded by Pew.
In all, three-quarters of the world's population lives under high levels
of restrictions, according to the report.

The Christian experience

The
Pew Center report concerns itself with all religions, not Christianity
alone. It did say, however, that Christians in 2012 were harassed in
more countries, 110, than any other single religion. Muslims were
harassed in 109, and Jews, 71. Since the report began in 2007, Christian
harassment has been reported in 151 countries, and harassment of
Muslims in 135.

About the report

The
Pew report released Tuesday covers 2012. It doesn't take into account
momentous developments in 2013, such as the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood
leader Mohamed Morsi from Egypt's presidency and the subsequent
violence against Coptic churches across Egypt; or the anarchy and deadly
Muslim-Christian violence in the Central African Republic; or the
continued exodus of Christians from Syria and much of the Middle East;
or the bombings in Peshawar, Pakistan, that killed scores of Christians.

Pew
also excludes North Korea from its study, citing the inability to
obtain reliable data from, or about, the reclusive country.

Data
for the report is drawn from 18 public information sources, most
published by national governments, the United Nations, European Union,
and non-government human-rights organizations.

The
truce declared by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in early March and the
reported negotiations with the Pakistani authorities once again raise
the old questions : Is it possible to negotiate with terrorists,
whosoever they might be?

Is
not the truce just a tactical move aimed at giving respite toTaliban to
regroup and launch a new offensive? Anyway, there is no reason to
believe that they are willing to renounce forever the old methods of
terrorist activities.

At
the beginning of this week, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of
Pakistan sent a letter to the heads of police departments of several
provinces and the capital Islamabad. The letter cautions that the
Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda have found a new target for terrorist
attack, viz., the former President Pervez Musharraf, whose case on
charges of treason is now being heard in court.

This
comes amid seemingly incipient negotiations between the government and
the Taliban. In early March, the Taliban announced a ceasefire, and last
week Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif even had breakfast with
representatives of the movement, which created a mixed reaction in the
community, to put it mildly, says Boris Volkhonsky, expert at the
Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.

The
main question that should be answered for evaluating what is happening
at present is: how sincere are the Pakistani Taliban in their desire to
end the violence, and is the truce and the start of negotiations not
just a tactical move giving them the necessary breathing space before a
new offensive? In addition, there is still no answer to another
important question: to what extent do the leaders of the Taliban who
declared their readiness to begin negotiations control the heterogeneous
groups united under the "Taliban" umbrella?

The
answers to these questions are rather disappointing. The very next day
after the announcement of the truce, terrorists carried out a bloody
attack in Islamabad that killed 11 people. This means that either the
Taliban are not sincere in their desire for peace, or their leaders do
not control the entire movement. Threats addressed to former President
Musharraf can also be explained easily. General Musharraf, who had a
reputation of being a fairly strong-arm leader, waged an uncompromising
struggle against them. During his presidency the question about any
negotiations with the terrorists did not even arise. And this terrorist
movement has gained its current strength over the years of rule by
perhaps the weakest leader in the history of Pakistan - Asif Ali
Zardari.

The
current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who "inherited" the strengthened
Taliban from his predecessor, found himself in a very difficult
position, says Boris Volkhonsky. Levers of the power of pressure, which
were in the hands of Musharraf, do not work so effectively now, and he
has to resort to pacification, like it or not. But as the experience of
the whole world shows, concessions to terrorists rarely lead to positive
results. Often they only inflame and whet their appetites.

Of
course, as the old adage goes, a bad peace is better than a good war.
But if you look at the real business of the Pakistani Taliban and not at
their peaceful declarations, we come to a disappointing conclusion.
Apparently, they only need truce in order to create the appearance of
willingness to participate in the political process. Nobody is thinking
about renouncing terrorist methods as of now.

THIS IS ISLAM SHARIA! https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1959619_450217268449574_410310219259088280_n.jpg?oh=36f55fad975807a3e7eae81e0fca4981&oe=54DF89BC&__gda__=1420973136_f8eb777d61256d82791f87bab4868f28THIS IS ISLAM SHARIA! https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=509913785811942 THIS IS ISLAM SHARIA!

I am King Israel Unius REI

Chiedete ad Israele di costruire il 3° tempio ebraico a Gerusalemme: se ne è capace!!! I am a politician with a universal divine command to restore the Kingdom of Israel, to the blessing of all nations, that is why, it is called: "Kingdom﻿ of Palestine"